X1.1.7 - World Jumping

  Vomit splattered onto a boulder, painting it in streaks of sickly yellow and pink.

  "There goes my lunch, again. Jumping Exits is definitely not among the things—I enjoy," complained the boy as he stood up, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

  The next world wasn't all that much better than the previous ones, although the strange settings were now replaced by one that resembled Earth's. The problem with Rock World is that it is full of Rock People, eventually Roa realized. He had woken up on a bed of dark gray slabs, their jagged edges poking into his body, as he regained consciousness. His back was sore, and his head was spinning.

  He was not alone. When his eyes darted around, he noticed that he was surrounded by strange men wearing slates of stone on their bodies, forming a wide circle around him. Their armor seemed neither efficient nor all that comfortable to wear. They did not seem to be too advanced of a civilization, given their grunting and leaping around in response to his presence. Roa glanced at the directions again as the locals moved around him, their eyes a mix of confusion, fear and obtuse ignorance.

  “JUMP 4: GO DOWN THE MOUNTAIN, BEWARE OF ROCK AND ROLL.”

  “Rock and Roll? These people?” the boy chuckled. “I doubt they have even invented a drum in this place.” He shook his head, finding Nirvana’s instructions to be poorly written and probably partially incorrect.

  Regrettably, the directions were indeed accurate. When the boy stood up, the strangers freaked out, screaming as if driven mad by some unknown force. Further adding to his misfortune, the Rock & Roll of this world had little to do with music. The locals pushed a large rock in his direction, which did in fact roll down the side of the mountain, chasing him all the way to the bottom. He ran in a panic, his feet slipping on loose gravel and stones, as he fell several times, covering his skin with cuts and bruises in the process. The Rock People glanced at him with curiosity from up high, their heads popping in and out from behind the edge. They threw tiny rocks his way, as if to want to gauge his reaction, grunting, and shouting noises—perhaps cursing the intruder for his unexpected presence—or his strange, soft clothing.

  "What the hell do you want from me?" he screamed, opening his arms wide.

  Frustrated, Roa threw some pebbles back at them, only prompting the locals for an encore to push yet another large rock to roll towards the weary traveler.

  It didn't take long to find the Exit out of that unfriendly place. The portal stood as the others did before it—unbothered by anything that was happening around it. The locals did not seem to notice the strange sight either, carrying on with their taunting instead. The boy cursed at the Rock People before he left, vowing to never return to that place.

  "Earth!" he said excitedly, sitting up with a burst of energy as he realized he had successfully made the jump to the next world.

  His head turned, scanning every direction, as it barely stuck above the swaying stalks of wheat that gently moved in the warm, summer breeze. The sun was out, the sky was blue, and the colors and gravity seemed normal enough. The last bit of his lunch came up, as the nausea came back.

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  "Couldn't the side effects of jumping worlds be something more pleasurable?"

  A giant koi fish floating in the clear, blue sky above him forced his eyebrows to raise. His heart sank and his shoulder slouched.

  "Just another random world with who knows what terrible dangers waiting for me."

  He glanced over at the directions, reading the last bullet point out loud.

  "JUMP 5: WALK SOUTH FOR A DAY, CROUCHING, TO THE BIRD HOUSE. CLIMB. TAKE RIGHT EXIT NOT LEFT!"

  The last two words were circled, as usual. He glanced about and let out an extremely long and slow exhale, as the warm sun shone on his skin, drying up his damp clothes. The wheat fields went on forever, and other than the occasional giant fish stuck in the sky, nothing around him really gave him the impression of danger.

  The boy went south, followed the instructions, crouching in the swaying wheat for about an hour until his legs began to burn. Sweating, he noticed some kids playing, tumbling, as they chased each other without a care in the world.

  “Hopefully the directions are mostly correct,” Nirvana’s words echoed in the boy’s mind, when he decided to just walk instead.

  He asked the children where he was, but they answered in some strange language that he could not understand. He flapped his arms like wings and made the shape of a house with his hands. The smiles on the kids’ faces disappeared. They pointed south, towards a faint line rising vertically on the horizon.

  “That will take me all day” he complained, as he shielded his eyes from the sun.

  The kids left, giggling and racing to their games, disappearing into the wheat. The traveler, feeling a surge of urgency, decided to run, the stalks brushing against his body. Suddenly, the ground beneath him gave way, as he plunged into a pond that his eyes did not catch in time. His stomach lurched as he gasped, inhaling water. Panic surged through him as he flailed, desperate for air. His arms shot out and finally grasped a stalk, yanking himself out. Gasping for breath, he spent several minutes coughing, struggling to expel the water from his lungs.

  His stomach growled, reminding him of the gnawing hunger he tried so hard to ignore. He hadn’t eaten much recently, and whatever little he had managed to consume had quickly been expelled after each jump. The nearest towns were far off, perched atop lush, emerald mountains, barely within view. His gaze drifted upward to the giant fish floating lazily above. He couldn’t help but wish he could cook one for himself.

  He pressed on, heading south, when the peaceful silence of his journey was shattered by the sudden roar of fire. Flames erupted behind him, a blazing inferno that swept across the fields, their heat searing into his neck and singeing his hair. He was unfortunately right, after all. Danger was indeed waiting for him there. A dragon, its scales glistening like molten metal, tore through the landscape, setting the very air alight. The children scattered in a desperate escape, fleeing from the monster’s wrath, scorching the ground, as it closed in on them. The Sunflower waved his arms, desperate to catch its attention.

  He threw himself on the floor, narrowly dodging its snapping jaws. A powerful gust followed behind the monster’s massive body as it flew past him just a few inches above, sending him tumbling from the force. Gasping for breath, he scrambled into the wheat, pressing himself flat against the ground. He hid until the dragon lost interest and flew away. Around him, the fields burned, the flames closing in from every direction. Noticing the children getting away to safety, the young man ran away, his worried eyes keeping an eye on the skies, scanning for the fire breathing lizard's return.

  As evening descended, the towering structure finally came into full view. It was immense—far taller than any skyscraper Roa had ever seen back in his home world. Its sheer size was staggering. The tower appeared to be made of light-colored wood, an unusual and seemingly unstable material for such an unnaturally tall building. Gigantic planks were haphazardly stacked together, forming the bulk of the vertical structure, their edges jagged and mismatched, creating a sense of vulnerability that contradicted its height. At the very top, well over the clouds, Roa noticed a large, square-shaped structure—looming mysteriously above, casting a long silhouette over the land below.

  "I’m supposed to climb this??" he said in dismay, as his eyes followed the tower up, past the first cluster of clouds, then the second, and so on.

  Find out tomorrow in the next exciting chapter of The Greatest Fight!

  X1.1.8 - The Dragon